Shock absorbers are well known in the art and are used in a variety of applications. In the automobile industry, pneumatic tires and springs together with snubbers are used to absorb energy so that less energy is imparted to the chassis of the automobile by the wheels rolling over the road. It is well known that the use of shock absorbers in this manner provides a much smoother ride.
In other environments, such as the mining industry, shock absorbers are used to prolong the life of equipment such as for example conveyors located at impact stations on which ore carried by trucks is dumped. Conventional shock absorbing elements used at impact stations have typically been unsatisfactory as an insufficient amount of energy is absorbed by the elements. The result of this is that the underlying rigid structure of the conveyor at the impact station takes almost all of the applied load and this of course, substantially decreases the lifetime of the conveyor. For these reasons, alternative designs for shock absorbing elements which increase energy absorption while decreasing cost are continually being sought.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel conveyor installation and novel shock absorbing elements suitable for use in a conveyor installation.